Russia v Samoa: Rugby World Cup 2019 – live!

Not long now: The teams march out on to the pitch, with the players of underdogs Russia wearing red shirts, red shorts and red, white and blue socks. Samoa’s troops wear blue shirts with red trim, white shorts and blue socks. They line up either side of match referee Romain Poite and his touch judges for the national anthems.

In other Pool A news: Johnny Sexton did not train fully on Tuesday but Ireland still expect him fit to face Japan on Saturday in Shizuoka. Skills coach Richie Murphy insisted it “wouldn’t be unusual” for fly-half Sexton to sit out a training session just 48 hours after playing in a Test.

Keith Earls, Rob Kearney and Joey Carbery are all fit and available for selection against Japan, leaving Robbie Henshaw as Ireland’s only major injury concern – should Sexton shake off his thigh knock.

World Rugby speaks: World Rugby has issued an extraordinary statement criticising the performance of its referees after only eight games.

The highest-profile blunder has been Ben O’Keeffe’s failure to punish Australia wing Reece Hodge for a shoulder-led, no-arms tackle to the head of Fiji’s Peceli Yato in Sapporo on Saturday. Yato subsequently failed a head injury assessment and Hodge has since been cited.

In Friday’s tournament opener, meanwhile, Japan lock James Moore escaped sanction for a no-arms tackle. “Following the usual review of matches, the match officials team recognise that performances over the opening weekend were not consistently of the standards set by World Rugby and themselves,” the World Rugby statement read.

“But World Rugby is confident of the highest standards of officiating moving forward. Elite match officials are required to make decisions in complex, high-pressure situations and there have been initial challenges with the use of technology and team communication, which have impacted decision-making.

“These are already being addressed by the team of 23 match officials to enhance consistency. Given this proactive approach, a strong team ethic and a superb support structure, World Rugby has every confidence in the team to ensure that Rugby World Cup 2019 delivers the highest levels of accurate, clear and consistent decision-making.”

Samoa’s coach speaks: “It’s a huge opportunity for us,” said New Zealander Steve Jackson. “What is a better stage to put Samoan rugby back on the map than at a Rugby World Cup?

“We are here to make our own legacy. We want people to remember the Samoan team at this Rugby World Cup as we have done in 1991 and 1995 with those teams that have reached the quarter-final and done extremely well.

Asked about Samoa’s opponents Russia, who they meet for the first time today, Jackson had this to say. “I think they’ve got a good kicking game. They’ve got a big pack but they don’t rely on that, they rely on their set pieces that they carry hard, and they play with passion. This is not just a rugby team, this is their country and we are just the same, we play with passion and it’ll be an exciting match.”

No pressure, Monsieur Poite …

In other Pool A news …

A tournament that started badly for Scotland appears to be going quickly downhill. In an ignominious 27-3 defeat at the hands of Ireland, they lost Hamish Watson to a serious, tournament-ending knee injury. It has now been revealed their scrum-half Ali Price has been ruled out for the rest of the Rugby World Cup with an ankle injury. Edinburgh’s Henry Pyrgos is packing his bags and en route to Japan to join up with Gregor Townsend’s squad. Read on …

Referee: Romain Poite (France)

Assistants: Jerome Garces (France), Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)

TMO: Graham Hughes (England)

With Samoa flanker Jack Lam injured and unavailable, Chris Vui will lead Samoa as they begin their Rugby World Cup campaign, with eight of their starting XV making their debut in the competition. Worcester Warriors winger Ed Fidow makes his ninth appearance for Samoa, having scored eight tries in as many games for his country.

Samoa: 15-Tim Nanai-Williams, 14-Alapati Leiua, 13-Rey Lee-Lo, 12-Henry Taefu, 11-Ed Fidow, 10-Tusi Pisi, 9-Dwayne Polataivao, 8-Afaesetiti Amosa, 7-TJ Ioane, 6-Chris Vui, 5-Kane Le’aupepe, 4-Teofilo Paulo, 3-Michael Alaalatoa, 2-Motu Matu’u, 1-Logovii Mulipola

Replacements: 16-Ray Niuia, 17-Paul Alo-Emile, 18-Jordan Lay, 19-Senio Toleafoa, 20-Josh Tyrell, 21-Melani Matavao, 22-AJ Alatimu, 23-Ulupano Seuteni.

Lyn Jones will field an unchanged starting XV and bench as Russia go in search of their first ever Rugby World Cup win at the sixth time of asking. Vasily Artemyev will captain the side, hoping to add to his tally of 29 Test tries. Fly-half Yury Kushnarev makes his 111^th appearance for the Bears, increasing his own caps record.

Russia: 15-Vasily Artemyev, 14-German Davydov, 13-Vladimir Ostroushko, 12-Dmitry Gerasimov, 11-Kirill Golosnitskiy, 10-Yury Kushnarev, 9-Vasily Dorofeev, 8-Nikita Vavilin, 7-Tagir Gadzhiev, 6-Vitaly Zhivatov, 5-Bogdan Fedotko, 4-Andrey Ostrikov, 3-Kirill Gotovtsev, 2-Stanislav Selskii, 1-Valery Morozov.

Replacements: 16-Evgeny Matveev, 17-Andrei Polivalov, 18-Azamat Bitiev, 19-Andrey Garbuzov, 20-Anton Sychev, 21-Dmitry Perov, 22-Ramil Gaisin, 23-Vladislav Sozonov.

The Kumagaya Rugby Stadium is the venue for this Pool A match pitting Russia against Samoa. Russia got off to a losing start in the tournament opener against Japan on Friday, going down 30-10 against the hosts, while Samoa will be hoping to further riff on their pain in what is their first appearance at this particular Rugby World Cup. Kick-off is at 11.15am (BST), but stay tuned for team news and buildup in the meantime.